Can’t Get it Yet: Uber-High-End OMT

The Vecturo is a familiar-looking tool with some very unfamiliar accessories.

Here the “shoe” of the depth stop rides against flooring. The stop is adjustable and easily removed or installed on the tool.

The angle attachment is similar to the plunge mechanism of a plunge router.

The angle attachment in use.

Festool is about to introduce an OMT (oscillating multi-tool) to the European market. The tool, the Vecturo OS 400 EQ, is clearly related to Fein’s FSC 2.0 SuperCut; both have 400-watt motors, produce 11,000 to 18,500 oscillations per minute, and share the same unusual blade interface. But for some minor changes to the exterior—color, location of the switch, blade lock lever, and provisions for a removable cord—it would be difficult to tell the tools apart. The tools look like they’re made by the same company but in fact they are not. According to Shane Holland, Festool Owner’s Group (FOG) administrator, the Vecturo is manufactured by Festool, “There was a collaboration with Fein regarding the Vecturo. Obviously, it was inspired by the SuperCut.”

I stumbled across this tool in a video shot at a tradeshow in Sweden and then later in the video below from Festool. If the Vecturo was merely a rebranded SuperCut it would not be that interesting. What’s cool about the tool are the accessories Festool created for it—a very nice depth stop (1:20 in video) and a positioning aid (angle attachment) akin to the plunge mechanism of a router (3:05 in video). Other companies make depth stops but Festool’s is the best I’ve seen, and no one makes anything remotely like the angle attachment.

According to a vendor in the Netherlands the tool will be available in that country in September 2014 and sell for about 580 Euros ($800 US at the current exchange rate). The angle attachment will go for about 120 Euros ($160 US). The Vecturo cannot be found on Festool’s German website and the company has given no indication it plans to sell the tool outside of Europe—though it’s hard to believe a 120-volt version (the European model is 230 volts) won’t someday be available in this country. For more on OMTs see: Full-Size Oscillating Multi-Tools.